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Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

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Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#241

Post by Oneiros512 »

shubik22 wrote: post #59

This reminds me of the holiday gifts at Google. By the time I joined, Google had already switched from physical gifts (e.g. a new Pixel) to allowing each employee to choose a charity to which Google.org would donate $1,000. Even years later, there was still bitterness among the employee base about the holiday gift. It was a bit mystifying to me (as I never had the expectation of a $400 electronic for a holiday gift f…

There was a story I read a while back about Veterans being unhappy with the red cross for not offering free donuts because they had back during WW2.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#242

Post by supernovae »

crocsarecool wrote: post #182
tjr225 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m back at a more traditional company after being at a startup for two years and the unlimited PTO was amazing. It wasn’t passive aggressive at all and now I sit here one my hands waiting to accumulate enough pto to take an extended break.

I’m back to a traditional place after unlimited. It’s annoying waiting to accumulate time, but I prefer the lines being clearer. The way my old company did unlimited felt like a cheat to not have to pay a vacation accumulation out if you didn’t use it, but you also felt like you were put on the naughty list for taking too much vacation. If you took beyond a certain amount of leave, someone from higher and higher up t…

I take about 3-5 weeks of vacation a year + our 14 company holidays.

I typically do one big road trip for ~2 weeks and then a week randomly through the year plus random days fishing, doings tuff with kids or just taking a break from work.

I could never do that having to accrue

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#243

Post by windthrown »

lixtra wrote: post #228
DoreenMichele wrote: post #209

I knew a guy who put his two weeks notice in just before the annual Christmas bonus came out. So they stiffed him on the bonus. They ended up paying for that in spades. This was in the planning field and he was moving from a private consulting firm to a government job. Government is where the real power is for this industry. If they were one minute late "Sorry, we are closed/you missed the deadline." If they had any…

> They ended up paying for that in spades. Assuming that guy behaved differently with other companies, shouldn’t we call it corruption? Edit: > This was in the planning field and he was moving from a private consulting firm to a government job . Some downvoters want explain? Seriously HN, you want this kind of government workers? I didn’t assume so. It was an interesting story to share.

Abusing the power of their job to retaliate against specific parties? Yes it sounds like pretty clear-cut corruption.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#244

Post by [deleted] »

lixtra wrote: post #228
DoreenMichele wrote: post #209

I knew a guy who put his two weeks notice in just before the annual Christmas bonus came out. So they stiffed him on the bonus. They ended up paying for that in spades. This was in the planning field and he was moving from a private consulting firm to a government job. Government is where the real power is for this industry. If they were one minute late "Sorry, we are closed/you missed the deadline." If they had any…

> They ended up paying for that in spades. Assuming that guy behaved differently with other companies, shouldn’t we call it corruption? Edit: > This was in the planning field and he was moving from a private consulting firm to a government job . Some downvoters want explain? Seriously HN, you want this kind of government workers? I didn’t assume so. It was an interesting story to share.

[deleted]

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#245

Post by barry-cotter »

donw wrote: post #161
m463 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is also why I think it is silly for startups to provide too many perks Should the opposite be true as well? Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules?

> Startup employees going home at 5 and fighting unreasonable schedules? Absolutely. First, overwork doesn't lead to more productivity for knowledge workers. You get to pay that piper one way or another in the end. Second, back in the day, if your company was acquired for multiple billions, you had a pretty good shot at a life-changing infusion of cash. Nowadays, stock options given to employees often end up being wo…

> First, overwork doesn't lead to more productivity for knowledge workers. You get to pay that piper one way or another in the end.

I have never seen any research showing net negative productivity for any job for under 60 hours a week of work. Overwork sucks but if you have evidence that it’s bad for productivity please cite it.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#246

Post by drfuchs »

alasdair_ wrote: post #220
zepto wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nowadays, stock options given to employees often end up being worth nothing, even on a successful exit. This seems unlikely. Exits and IPOs have much greater valuations now than they did ‘back in the day’ so far more early employees end up with a significant infusion of cash.

Companies are also taking FAR longer to exit/IPO than they did back in the day and most companies still have a 90 day limit on ISOs. How many super early employees are able to hang on for a decade until IPO, or have the cash to exercise their options before they leave?

Super-early employee here. Pay for your options your first day of employment. They should be inexpensive; and your employer should be willing to give you a signing bonus to cover it (after all, the money just goes right back to them). Then when you leave, you get to keep all vested shares with no tax consequence, no need to pony up any cash, and no need to sell right away. Worked out great for me.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#247

Post by unishark »

minitoar wrote: post #84
mod wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a grossly over-exaggerated price for donuts imo.

1 dozen krispy kreme glazed donuts is like $8

Isn't that a bit like evaluating the cost of coffee based on starbucks prices?

We also don't know how recent this story is. When I was a kid, in the days before gentrification and gourmet-everything, there was a doughnut shop nearby that was like $2 for a dozen. It was way cheaper than regular fast food. I remember thinking what a great discovery it was until I found I couldn't handle more than a couple of them before the sugar was too much for me.

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#248

Post by Rapzid »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #6

I actually think bonuses and equity grants are terrible for comapany morale. I've seen it many times, and heard many more stories. On top of the issue in this story, there are others too. For example, if someone wants to leave, but the bonus or vesting is coming up, they will stay, and you don't want people on a project who don't want to be there. As another example I know people who work at companies that are going…

Startup I work for was acquired within the past year; came through as a "key employee". Don't like the new environment. Huge management hierarchy and management culture, command/control, siloed decision making, and etc.

Unfortunately my reward, as such, is tied up in retention based compensation. Not phoning it in yet, but struggling to reach the 1 year cliff. Honestly coming around to the idea..

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#249

Post by lokar »

rachelbythebay wrote: post #224
dilyevsky wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The year before i joined - 2010 was last one afaik (also when it got leaked)

2009 leaked. Tweeted while most of us were still in line. Still got the screenshot. One thousand dollar impromptu cash bonus. I work for Google!! ... October 16th. Dumb.

Thanks Randy!

Re: Thanks for the Bonus, I Quit

#250

Post by 55555 »

dilyevsky wrote: post #152
greggman3 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question, what's a reasonable solution for a small company (since it's easier to do thought experiments on a small company). You're a business owner. You hire 3 people. You pay them salaries. That year the company does really well. You want to thank your employees. You're not going to just give them raises because there's no guarantee you'll do as well next year It sounds by Netflix logic you should just keep…

By netflix logic you’re already paying top of the market so you should be good.

Note the Netflix strategy only works for high profit per employee, highly scalable firms.
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